1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,960
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

2
00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:08,760
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with

3
00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:12,879
Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff Works dot Com. Join Josh

4
00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,280
Speaker 1: and Chuck, the guys who bring you stuff you should know,

5
00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,680
Speaker 1: as they take a trip around the world to help

6
00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,720
Speaker 1: you get smarter in a topsy TRV economy. Check out

7
00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,439
Speaker 1: the all new super Stuff Guide to the Economy from

8
00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:31,360
Speaker 1: how Stuff Works dot Com, available now exclusively on iTunes. Hi, There, everybody,

9
00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,080
Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Polette.

10
00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:37,160
Speaker 1: I'm an editor here at how stuff works dot com,

11
00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:39,440
Speaker 1: and sitting next to me, as usual, is the very

12
00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:45,800
Speaker 1: helpful senior writer Jonathan Strickland. You know what I think

13
00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:48,240
Speaker 1: you need help? Do I? Yes, when I need help?

14
00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:54,040
Speaker 1: Do you? Because you're in the United States that it

15
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,680
Speaker 1: occurred to me after we researched this that it is

16
00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,920
Speaker 1: once again a very United States centric podcast, So we

17
00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,840
Speaker 1: apologize to our friends overseas and to the north and South.

18
00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,319
Speaker 1: And okay, okay, well, let's let's just say, how does

19
00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:10,880
Speaker 1: a rescue number fill in the blank? Here? You know

20
00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:15,480
Speaker 1: where you are. Well, you're making some pretty big assumptions there, Pete,

21
00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,840
Speaker 1: because I haven't looked into any others other than one. Okay, well,

22
00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:21,000
Speaker 1: I think the technology is basically there, so let's talk

23
00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,480
Speaker 1: about the same. Alright, So let's first talk about how

24
00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,360
Speaker 1: nine one one is set up. We were gonna really

25
00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,800
Speaker 1: focus kind of on on how it works when you're

26
00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:35,720
Speaker 1: using a cellular phone or heaven help you avoid phone. Um.

27
00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,319
Speaker 1: But but before we get into that, it's best to

28
00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:40,120
Speaker 1: know kind of the basics of how it works in

29
00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:42,480
Speaker 1: the first place. Sure, I mean, it wasn't all that

30
00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,080
Speaker 1: long ago that there wasn't any kind of standardized number,

31
00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:48,680
Speaker 1: you know. You know, it's only been since the mid

32
00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,560
Speaker 1: nineteen sixties that for the sixties eight was when the

33
00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,320
Speaker 1: first one went live, right, Well, I mean they had to,

34
00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,960
Speaker 1: you know, work on getting it organized and it wasn't

35
00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,600
Speaker 1: even a national thing. It is very localized and it's

36
00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:03,920
Speaker 1: still listen, it's it's it is. It is very much

37
00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:07,600
Speaker 1: a regional system. So um, yeah, there's no national system.

38
00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,840
Speaker 1: It's all uh managed by by different counties and cities.

39
00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:17,079
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, different uh, different governments and and different regions

40
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:22,040
Speaker 1: are overseeing these things. So as you can imagine, coordination

41
00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:25,720
Speaker 1: is a is kind of a tricky, tricky business. One

42
00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,120
Speaker 1: and um, usually you know you're you're pretty much supporting

43
00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:32,280
Speaker 1: it through taxes and uh maybe a fee to your

44
00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:36,519
Speaker 1: phone carrier. Yeah, yeah, I mean it's uh. In addition

45
00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:38,560
Speaker 1: to building out the network, they have to pay people

46
00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,080
Speaker 1: to sit at the switchboard and listen to people with

47
00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,000
Speaker 1: emergency calls and those people who call to complain about

48
00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,560
Speaker 1: traffic and that there are no chicken nuggets at the McDonald's.

49
00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:49,959
Speaker 1: You totally stole it before I could say it. Yes,

50
00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:54,200
Speaker 1: I win, okay, so um, yes, uh, let's let's say

51
00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:57,679
Speaker 1: let's start with the landline um approach, because that that's

52
00:02:57,680 --> 00:02:59,600
Speaker 1: the easiest one to talk about when you're when you're

53
00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,200
Speaker 1: making a call, and it is the first one they

54
00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:04,919
Speaker 1: had to, uh to worry about building out. Right, so

55
00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:07,800
Speaker 1: when you actually dial, it goes to a different hub.

56
00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,919
Speaker 1: It doesn't actually go to the same hub that regular

57
00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,120
Speaker 1: phone call will go, right, because the phone company knows

58
00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,360
Speaker 1: when you make a phone call, it has to that's right,

59
00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,519
Speaker 1: that's right for them to bill you exactly exactly. So

60
00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:20,600
Speaker 1: when you make a nine one one call, the phone

61
00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,040
Speaker 1: company knows you're making an emergency call. It goes through

62
00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:26,280
Speaker 1: this hub and then it goes to the closest public

63
00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:31,119
Speaker 1: Safety Answering Point or P s a P SAP SAP,

64
00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,000
Speaker 1: so it goes to the closest one to whatever region

65
00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,119
Speaker 1: you're calling from. So that way the response is going

66
00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,840
Speaker 1: to be very localized and theoretically will be the fastest

67
00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:46,880
Speaker 1: response that you could expect under you know, any normal circumstances. Now, UM,

68
00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:50,240
Speaker 1: when you call the the phone company sends to that

69
00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:55,440
Speaker 1: SAP P s a P. That the your information, so

70
00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,280
Speaker 1: that person will know the operator will know like this

71
00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:00,840
Speaker 1: is where the phone calls originating. UM, in case you

72
00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:06,080
Speaker 1: aren't able to speak, If you are unable to actually talk, UH,

73
00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:08,280
Speaker 1: they can at least see where the calls coming from

74
00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:11,800
Speaker 1: and send help to that address. And this happens, you know,

75
00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,360
Speaker 1: more often than you would think. You may not be

76
00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:18,359
Speaker 1: able to speak because you smoke inhalation, you might be

77
00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:22,480
Speaker 1: choking on something. In some cases, people's pets have dialed

78
00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:27,960
Speaker 1: dialed one, and in some cases it was necessary. I

79
00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,000
Speaker 1: mean more than one case you had an animal dial

80
00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,280
Speaker 1: nine one one and it really didn't need to do that.

81
00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:37,200
Speaker 1: But but there are stories about rescue animals that did

82
00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:41,920
Speaker 1: dial nine one in order to contact UH emergency services

83
00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,280
Speaker 1: when their their owners. UM suffered some sort of trauma

84
00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,200
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, of course that doesn't happen all

85
00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:50,920
Speaker 1: that often. But the way the system works is the

86
00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:53,360
Speaker 1: operator sees, okay, this call is coming from this address,

87
00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,960
Speaker 1: I will send help there. I can't quite ascertain exactly

88
00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,480
Speaker 1: what's going on, and so they, you know, pretty much

89
00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:03,880
Speaker 1: decide at the spur of the moment which services to send. UM. Otherwise,

90
00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,040
Speaker 1: of course the dispatcher will talk to the you know,

91
00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:09,159
Speaker 1: the operator or dispatch will talk to you, and then

92
00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,280
Speaker 1: you would explain what the emergency situation was, and then

93
00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:17,840
Speaker 1: they would send the appropriate respond respondents. Right. So UM,

94
00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:22,560
Speaker 1: that's the that's just the basic uh response. There's actually

95
00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,240
Speaker 1: another thing called the enhanced nine one one response, which

96
00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,160
Speaker 1: is even a little more complex than that. Yeah, E

97
00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:33,039
Speaker 1: nine one one is UM actually fairly common now, I

98
00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,920
Speaker 1: would think, yeah, yeah, back in two thousand and six,

99
00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,200
Speaker 1: I think it was penetration in the market, So by

100
00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,160
Speaker 1: now I would expect that number to be much higher.

101
00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:48,279
Speaker 1: So UM, and it actually uses an even more sophisticated system.

102
00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,560
Speaker 1: The hub that you dial into UM actually makes some

103
00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:57,240
Speaker 1: additional determinations, goes in and get some info from a

104
00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:00,240
Speaker 1: couple of servers on the telephone system side to try

105
00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,320
Speaker 1: to get even more detailed information about where you are

106
00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,680
Speaker 1: and and who to route the call to to maybe

107
00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:09,920
Speaker 1: speed up the service just that much more. Right, Yeah,

108
00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,960
Speaker 1: you're talking about things like, you know, to everything from

109
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:17,640
Speaker 1: determining how many emergency calls are already out to you know,

110
00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,240
Speaker 1: maybe maybe this person's address would make you think that

111
00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:23,800
Speaker 1: they are closest to this P s a P, but

112
00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:27,479
Speaker 1: in reality they'd be closer to another one. Um. It

113
00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,960
Speaker 1: also will bring up information such as what what sort

114
00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:35,880
Speaker 1: of obstacles a response team might encounter en route to

115
00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,479
Speaker 1: the address, like if there's a street that's closed or

116
00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:44,240
Speaker 1: anything along those lines. Um. So it really is of

117
00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:48,440
Speaker 1: course designed to help these emergency responders get to you

118
00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:52,880
Speaker 1: much more quickly and safely than they would otherwise. And

119
00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:56,760
Speaker 1: as it turns out, this enhanced nine one one functionality

120
00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:02,320
Speaker 1: is essential to getting wireless nine one functionality to to

121
00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,640
Speaker 1: actually function the right way, because otherwise it would be

122
00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:08,839
Speaker 1: very difficult for the the wireless provider to get the

123
00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:12,360
Speaker 1: information on where you are now. You know, a cell

124
00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:16,480
Speaker 1: phone can only be so accurate as to where they

125
00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,400
Speaker 1: can figure out where your location is because it's triangulating

126
00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:22,640
Speaker 1: based on the signals from different cell phone towers in

127
00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,840
Speaker 1: your area. Uh. So it's a little like GPS in

128
00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:28,800
Speaker 1: that way, because it is is determining your location based

129
00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:33,360
Speaker 1: on the transmitters on the ground and where the phone

130
00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,240
Speaker 1: is telling it that it is. You know, it seems

131
00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:38,280
Speaker 1: closer to this one, it seems rather away from that one.

132
00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,760
Speaker 1: We think he or she is in this area right here.

133
00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:46,560
Speaker 1: And UM, this is important because around of all phone

134
00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:51,480
Speaker 1: calls that go into originate from a wireless phone like

135
00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:56,360
Speaker 1: a cell phone. And UM, obviously when you have that

136
00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:58,240
Speaker 1: that number of calls coming in, you do need a

137
00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,960
Speaker 1: way that you can, you know, retained where this person is. Um.

138
00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,400
Speaker 1: There are a couple of different ways of doing this

139
00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:08,760
Speaker 1: besides the one you mentioned is probably the most common. Uh.

140
00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:13,320
Speaker 1: That one is the uh it's a network based location

141
00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:15,320
Speaker 1: finding is kind of the way we think of it.

142
00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:18,920
Speaker 1: It's in the sense that it's all based upon how

143
00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,480
Speaker 1: far away you are from at least usually I think

144
00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,040
Speaker 1: three towers that's what they need in order to to

145
00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:27,360
Speaker 1: determine where in general you are. I think that's the

146
00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:32,360
Speaker 1: number that I saw most frequently. And yeah, it's it's

147
00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:36,360
Speaker 1: accurate to between one dred three, which is you know,

148
00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:40,200
Speaker 1: not that bad considering, but there's if you're you know,

149
00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,720
Speaker 1: in your car and it's on fire with flame shooting

150
00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:44,640
Speaker 1: out through the hood, I think they'd probably be able

151
00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:47,120
Speaker 1: to find you once they got once they got within

152
00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:49,240
Speaker 1: three they probably be able to figure out what they know.

153
00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:52,199
Speaker 1: But the other way you can do this is actually

154
00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:55,640
Speaker 1: using a handheld device like your Your phone itself has

155
00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,200
Speaker 1: within it a location device that would help in that.

156
00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,400
Speaker 1: If you have a phone that has a GPS receiver,

157
00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,760
Speaker 1: it could it could send the information it's receiving from

158
00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:12,000
Speaker 1: the satellite on through the signal and therefore give extremely

159
00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:16,400
Speaker 1: accurate location information to whomever's on the phone. Right, So

160
00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:18,760
Speaker 1: it's getting the the information from the GPS and sending

161
00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:21,599
Speaker 1: it over the cell phone network, right, That's exactly what

162
00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:24,600
Speaker 1: it's doing. However, you have to keep in mind if

163
00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,840
Speaker 1: you're inside, that's not going to help you out too much.

164
00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:30,080
Speaker 1: You really need to have an open view to the

165
00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:33,640
Speaker 1: sky in order to to really get those signals from

166
00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,400
Speaker 1: the satellites. Uh, if you are in any kind of

167
00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:41,000
Speaker 1: like heavily wooded area or maybe downtown in a really

168
00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:44,600
Speaker 1: crowded city, um, it may not respond as well. So

169
00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:47,640
Speaker 1: that's not always necessarily, Like, just because you have a

170
00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:50,760
Speaker 1: GPS receiver in your phone doesn't necessarily mean it's going

171
00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:53,320
Speaker 1: to give it the most accurate information all the time.

172
00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:55,280
Speaker 1: It all depends on the situation you're in and the

173
00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:58,760
Speaker 1: environment around you. That's true, because I'm guessing that if

174
00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:02,120
Speaker 1: you were saying in a the story building and you

175
00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,720
Speaker 1: have a GPS device and it's saying, well, you know

176
00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,520
Speaker 1: he's here at this location, then the rescuers have to

177
00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:12,679
Speaker 1: go look on every floor because it doesn't say, well,

178
00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:15,079
Speaker 1: you know he's on the fifth floor and sweet five forty,

179
00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:18,559
Speaker 1: so well yeah, yeah, so even if it could get

180
00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:20,319
Speaker 1: the signal in the first place, so there, so there

181
00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:22,719
Speaker 1: is a limit, Yeah, there are there are limits. And

182
00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:25,480
Speaker 1: the whole reason for this in the first place is

183
00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:29,440
Speaker 1: because the the FCC was very much concerned with making

184
00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,920
Speaker 1: sure that when you dial nine one one on a

185
00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,360
Speaker 1: cell phone that you are able to get the help

186
00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:39,080
Speaker 1: that you require, and uh, they demanded demanded things to

187
00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:41,880
Speaker 1: be rolled out the sort of the enhanced nine one

188
00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:44,280
Speaker 1: one for cell phones to be rolled out into two phases.

189
00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:49,240
Speaker 1: The first phase was just using location determining your location

190
00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,360
Speaker 1: will be determined based upon whichever cell tower you are

191
00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:56,079
Speaker 1: connecting to with your phone, and unfortunately that doesn't really

192
00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:59,240
Speaker 1: give you a whole lot of accuracy. We're talking like

193
00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:04,880
Speaker 1: six to thirty miles, and six to thirty miles is

194
00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:07,600
Speaker 1: not great. Now, hopefully, if you are actually able to

195
00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:11,040
Speaker 1: communicate with the operator, that won't be as big a

196
00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:13,400
Speaker 1: deal because you'll be able to tell that person where

197
00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:16,520
Speaker 1: you are right right under Phase two. It's it's much

198
00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:22,720
Speaker 1: more accurate within fifty according to the government information. And uh,

199
00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:24,719
Speaker 1: I was actually looking into this now. Here's the other

200
00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:26,559
Speaker 1: issue is that you might wonder, like, okay, well, how

201
00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:31,000
Speaker 1: far into phase two are we? That is practically impossible

202
00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,880
Speaker 1: to answer without contacting each and every P s A

203
00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,360
Speaker 1: P in the nation because it's on a per carrier basis.

204
00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:42,120
Speaker 1: It's on a per P S a P basis. They

205
00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,520
Speaker 1: have to work together in order to get this Phase

206
00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:49,840
Speaker 1: two rolled out. So um yeah, it's I couldn't even

207
00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:55,160
Speaker 1: tell you, like, how how many different locations have Phase

208
00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:59,560
Speaker 1: two rolled out versus Phase one? Um, it's uh and

209
00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:01,800
Speaker 1: that's kind of scary when you think about it. I mean,

210
00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:03,760
Speaker 1: you know, you really don't know when you call nine

211
00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:07,480
Speaker 1: one one if how accurate their their information is going

212
00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:10,800
Speaker 1: to be um. Of course if you can talk, then

213
00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:13,760
Speaker 1: that might be able to solve some issues right there.

214
00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:17,200
Speaker 1: But yeah, you know, uh, just to point this out, UM,

215
00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:20,480
Speaker 1: from what I was reading during my research fees on

216
00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,640
Speaker 1: this podcast, Uh, the experts say the very first thing

217
00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:25,880
Speaker 1: you should do when you call nine one one is

218
00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:31,320
Speaker 1: to tell them where you are. Um. Especially yeah, exactly

219
00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:33,760
Speaker 1: because they said that that that is probably the most

220
00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:36,800
Speaker 1: important thing, especially if you're in a situation where you're

221
00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:40,520
Speaker 1: not able to communicate well, because um, you know, then

222
00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:43,400
Speaker 1: they can go ahead and figure out how to get

223
00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:47,040
Speaker 1: to you and from there, you know, assist you. But yeah,

224
00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:49,440
Speaker 1: that's you know, don't forget to just go ahead and

225
00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:52,839
Speaker 1: tell them where you are, um, because that is is

226
00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:56,439
Speaker 1: essential when you're dealing with wireless and v O I P.

227
00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:01,000
Speaker 1: I didn't think to at this in my notes, But

228
00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,240
Speaker 1: we should also addressed the fact that if you carry

229
00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:07,559
Speaker 1: a satellite phone, that can give information very quickly to

230
00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:10,400
Speaker 1: an emergency response team exactly where you are. Because again

231
00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,720
Speaker 1: that's working on the same sort of of uh kind

232
00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:16,880
Speaker 1: of way as a GPS receiver. You're receiving yourself signals

233
00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:20,600
Speaker 1: through satellite UM, and there are many satellite emergency phones

234
00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:23,840
Speaker 1: that are on the market for people who like, you know,

235
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,040
Speaker 1: like to hike in the Yukon. Sure's things like that.

236
00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:29,640
Speaker 1: You know, people who really do go into these you know,

237
00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:34,440
Speaker 1: high risk environments because they're they're adventurers at heart, and uh,

238
00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,560
Speaker 1: these sort of phones help help get that information out.

239
00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:40,800
Speaker 1: And usually it's a simple button you press and it

240
00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:45,360
Speaker 1: sends an emergency signal and it includes your coordinates like

241
00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,199
Speaker 1: on Star in cars. Yeah, essentially, yeah, it's on Star

242
00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:52,360
Speaker 1: for hikers. Yeah. And very expensive. Yes, yes, they are

243
00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:55,679
Speaker 1: not cheap. Yeah, we're not talking like your voice plan.

244
00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:58,720
Speaker 1: I think they're significantly right. Both the phones and the

245
00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:01,400
Speaker 1: plans cost quite an out of money. But if it's

246
00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:03,840
Speaker 1: a matter of life and death because you're an adventurer

247
00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:06,800
Speaker 1: and like like to go out and you know, party

248
00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:10,280
Speaker 1: with grizzly bears who might eat you and who doesn't write,

249
00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:13,240
Speaker 1: you know, I might be worth the investment. So let's

250
00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:18,440
Speaker 1: move on to voipe over Internet protocol. That's true. Now,

251
00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,480
Speaker 1: voice over Internet protocol we've talked about before in this podcast.

252
00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,640
Speaker 1: This is uh, yeah, this is uh, this is It

253
00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:27,600
Speaker 1: sends your phone call like it would send it sends

254
00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:31,440
Speaker 1: it over the internet esppecially over the cellular network, and uh,

255
00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,360
Speaker 1: like every other kind of information that's sent over the

256
00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,880
Speaker 1: internet's broken up into packets, gets little pieces, teeny tiny

257
00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:40,520
Speaker 1: pieces like you know, like a Mike TV and Willy

258
00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:42,640
Speaker 1: Wonka flies through the air, and it gets to the

259
00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:44,920
Speaker 1: other side and gets re it gets put back together,

260
00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:47,560
Speaker 1: and then it becomes the phone call on the other end. Uh.

261
00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,960
Speaker 1: Here's the problem with voipe. Um, there's no physical location

262
00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:55,360
Speaker 1: associated with voipe at all at all. You your voice

263
00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:59,680
Speaker 1: is associated mainly with your computer or device upon which

264
00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:02,840
Speaker 1: you have voipe installed. That's true, I mean there is

265
00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,840
Speaker 1: you know, you can ping something a location and get

266
00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:08,760
Speaker 1: as sort of an idea of where it's going to

267
00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:12,800
Speaker 1: because you know, and internet. Anything you send through the

268
00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:16,600
Speaker 1: Internet reaches lots of computers, tons and tons and tons

269
00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:20,000
Speaker 1: of computers because it's it's bouncing piece by piece over

270
00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:23,480
Speaker 1: you know, network by network, different stuff in between here

271
00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:27,560
Speaker 1: and there. The thing is, you know, there's very it's

272
00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:31,160
Speaker 1: this information that's coming around with it is very sketchy.

273
00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:37,800
Speaker 1: So it's you know, it's general idea of where someone is.

274
00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:40,640
Speaker 1: But the other thing is that, um, you know, it's

275
00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:44,480
Speaker 1: it's you can set a location when you set up

276
00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:48,560
Speaker 1: a voipe account. In fact, you're supposed to UM, which

277
00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:51,520
Speaker 1: would be you know, like the idea here is that

278
00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:54,480
Speaker 1: you're telling the company this is where I usually I

279
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,600
Speaker 1: am usually at when I make my voice calls, like

280
00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,200
Speaker 1: if I I'm usually at home when I do this

281
00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:02,720
Speaker 1: VOPE system. So that way, if I were to ever

282
00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,760
Speaker 1: call nine one one over the VOPE system, chances are

283
00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,800
Speaker 1: this is the location that I'm calling from. UM. And

284
00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,320
Speaker 1: then theoretically you should have an easy way to update

285
00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,000
Speaker 1: that information so that if you were to travel, you

286
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:19,280
Speaker 1: could say I happen to be in Prague. Not of course,

287
00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,040
Speaker 1: if you're in Prague, I don't know why you'd be

288
00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,880
Speaker 1: dialing one, but the point being that you should be

289
00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:28,600
Speaker 1: able to update your location so that UM, you're not

290
00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:32,560
Speaker 1: sending the operators on a married chase or really it's

291
00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:36,400
Speaker 1: just to let the phone company know which P s

292
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,080
Speaker 1: a P you're calling needs to be rounded to. Yeah,

293
00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:40,920
Speaker 1: it's not gonna do much good if you call nine

294
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,200
Speaker 1: one one and the person answering the phone is eight

295
00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:49,000
Speaker 1: counties away and uh, you know, it's just as all

296
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:51,840
Speaker 1: that's gonna do is waste valuable seconds. And of course

297
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:54,720
Speaker 1: we know like in an emergency, every second counts. Yeah,

298
00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:57,960
Speaker 1: if you're if you're a v O I P telephone customer,

299
00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,360
Speaker 1: for example, if you Advantage or many of the others.

300
00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,600
Speaker 1: A lot of the regular I s P s and

301
00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,000
Speaker 1: phone companies offer some kind of v O I P

302
00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:10,879
Speaker 1: service Now UM. They'll tell you whether or not you

303
00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:14,600
Speaker 1: can use UM, and they sort of have some of

304
00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:16,960
Speaker 1: the details ironed out. However, if you were to be

305
00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:22,480
Speaker 1: using some of the UM programs like Skype or Gizmo Project,

306
00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:25,840
Speaker 1: I don't know that it would be as reliable as

307
00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:28,240
Speaker 1: you know, something like Vantage, which is you know, set

308
00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:30,920
Speaker 1: up to be. It's like, well, we know where he lives,

309
00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:34,480
Speaker 1: he's calling from this address. It's fine. Now, the FCC

310
00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:41,200
Speaker 1: says that any VOIPE provider has to provide support and

311
00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:44,600
Speaker 1: it has to work. Uh. They don't go so far

312
00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:47,360
Speaker 1: as to explain how that's supposed to happen, but they

313
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:49,600
Speaker 1: say this is how it has to be, so it's

314
00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:51,800
Speaker 1: left up to the providers to find a way to

315
00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,360
Speaker 1: make it work. Yeah, that's the thing. I mean, if

316
00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:57,200
Speaker 1: you're if they know that you have a voice power

317
00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:00,000
Speaker 1: line system at your house and you're calling from your house,

318
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:02,119
Speaker 1: well they know where that is. They can it works.

319
00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,119
Speaker 1: It would work very similarly to a regular telephone call.

320
00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,680
Speaker 1: I would assume in that UM they would say, well,

321
00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:10,760
Speaker 1: h Chris is calling. We know Chris lives at this address,

322
00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:14,439
Speaker 1: send him here and that would be it. But you know,

323
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,560
Speaker 1: it's not because of the voide. It's because they know

324
00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:21,040
Speaker 1: they already know where you live, right And according to

325
00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:25,440
Speaker 1: the f c C, interconnected voite providers must obtain affirmative

326
00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:28,760
Speaker 1: acknowledgement from all existing customers that they are aware of

327
00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:31,280
Speaker 1: and understand the limitations of their nine one one service,

328
00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:33,560
Speaker 1: and they do send that information to you if you're

329
00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:35,760
Speaker 1: a customer, because I am a v O I P customer,

330
00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:39,480
Speaker 1: so you actually received that excellent, So good on them.

331
00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:43,679
Speaker 1: They're following the law. UM. But yeah, it is important

332
00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:45,719
Speaker 1: to remember that if you're a void customer that that

333
00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:49,880
Speaker 1: could become uh an issue. However, we should also point

334
00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:53,640
Speaker 1: out that, UM, you can also make nine one one

335
00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:58,119
Speaker 1: calls from any cellular phone or really any landline. I

336
00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:00,200
Speaker 1: think I think you can make an emergency call all

337
00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:02,880
Speaker 1: no matter what, you don't even even if you don't

338
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:04,879
Speaker 1: have a plan anymore on a cell phone. If you

339
00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:06,640
Speaker 1: pick up a cell phone in don nine one one,

340
00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:09,720
Speaker 1: it has to work, right, that's true. I mean that's

341
00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:12,280
Speaker 1: if you have an old cell phone. Um. I've actually

342
00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:17,040
Speaker 1: heard this mention before by a consumer. Um consumer rights

343
00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,000
Speaker 1: advocates said, if you have an old cell phone, you know,

344
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:21,880
Speaker 1: traded in for a new one, go ahead and keep

345
00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:23,919
Speaker 1: it charged up, the old one and throw in your

346
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:26,280
Speaker 1: glove compartment, because what if you leave your cell phone

347
00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:28,880
Speaker 1: at home, you get an accident, you still are supposed

348
00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:30,320
Speaker 1: to be able to call nine one one, and they're

349
00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:33,760
Speaker 1: still supposed to connect those emergency calls. So it's a

350
00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:35,960
Speaker 1: good use for an old, beat up phone. Yeah. I know,

351
00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,119
Speaker 1: there's some charity organizations that accept donations of old phones

352
00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:42,920
Speaker 1: specifically to use them as emergency phones for underserf populations.

353
00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:46,080
Speaker 1: So um, so yeah, that's that's a good thing to

354
00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,040
Speaker 1: keep in mind is even if you do use voide,

355
00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,680
Speaker 1: it may it may behoove you to keep a regular

356
00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:55,120
Speaker 1: old phone plugged in or a a cell phone laying

357
00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:56,960
Speaker 1: around so that you can rely on that in the

358
00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,760
Speaker 1: case of an emergency, just in case the voide doesn't

359
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,040
Speaker 1: work exactly the way you would hope it would work,

360
00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:04,879
Speaker 1: and in which case you would want to tell them

361
00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:09,720
Speaker 1: where you are first. Yes, always remember that I'm done.

362
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,439
Speaker 1: I am too excellent, because you know what that means. Yeah,

363
00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:21,479
Speaker 1: it's time for listener mail. Yay. I'm trying a new

364
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:25,600
Speaker 1: approach this time. Yea, yeah, excellent, all right. This listener

365
00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,720
Speaker 1: mail comes from Andrew. Hi Andrew, He says hello, Hey, look,

366
00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,800
Speaker 1: he said hi back. My name is Andrew from Illinois.

367
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,640
Speaker 1: So he's the Andrew from Illinois. Hi, Andrew and Illinois.

368
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:39,800
Speaker 1: He's in seventh grade and I'm subscribed to what is

369
00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,960
Speaker 1: it now? Seven? Yeah? All seven How Stuff Works podcasts.

370
00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:48,000
Speaker 1: You are awesome, Andrew. I just thought i'd dropped you

371
00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:50,480
Speaker 1: a line. Aligned to you guys at tech stuff and

372
00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,880
Speaker 1: say the specifics about the five major web browsers Internet Explorer,

373
00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:58,680
Speaker 1: I have eight Mozilla, Firefox, Apple, Safari, Google, Chrome, and Opera.

374
00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:03,120
Speaker 1: I have all five on my laptop, and although Internet

375
00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,240
Speaker 1: Explorers the easiest to use, best for favorites and bookmarks

376
00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:08,680
Speaker 1: and a few other things, there's in no way the best.

377
00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:11,520
Speaker 1: Firefox is by far the best and safest of them all.

378
00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:14,080
Speaker 1: Safari is the fastest, Chrome is stripped down, making it

379
00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:16,800
Speaker 1: an easier interface to use, and Opera makes the best

380
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,199
Speaker 1: backup browser and is great on older computers. I know

381
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:22,040
Speaker 1: that you probably know all this already, but I just

382
00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:24,160
Speaker 1: wanted to say what I believe about them. I never

383
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:26,600
Speaker 1: owned and hardly ever used a Mac before, by the way,

384
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:29,840
Speaker 1: I just wanted to say that I am slash was

385
00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:36,240
Speaker 1: bared and it is PM by five pm and seventh grade.

386
00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:40,560
Speaker 1: Yeah that's okay, Yeah, I'm I'd say bedtime at ten. Yeah,

387
00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:45,080
Speaker 1: we'll ask my bedtime now too. Good Lord, well, Andrew,

388
00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:48,360
Speaker 1: thank you very much for writing it. Um five browsers

389
00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,000
Speaker 1: on one laptop. Oh, we'll see. That's that's because that's

390
00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:54,080
Speaker 1: you see, he's not using a Mac. Because if he

391
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:58,639
Speaker 1: was using a Mac, you have those plus OmniWeb and

392
00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,960
Speaker 1: Camino at least if not, Shira, I'm almost sad that

393
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:07,000
Speaker 1: I picked this mail to read. You know, you're right though,

394
00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:11,240
Speaker 1: because each browser they're all they're all good. Uh, and

395
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:13,680
Speaker 1: it's it seems like from using all of them, there's

396
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,560
Speaker 1: always one thing about each one of them that goes. Man.

397
00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:19,560
Speaker 1: I wish everybody else would do this, but they don't. Yeah. Yeah,

398
00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:20,960
Speaker 1: I can think right off the help of my head.

399
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,480
Speaker 1: For instance, UM, i'd say the Internet Explorer probably has

400
00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:31,000
Speaker 1: the most widespread support any website to work in Internet Explorer. Um,

401
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,080
Speaker 1: it's also out of the major ones, it's the slowest.

402
00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:38,600
Speaker 1: Although Internet Explorer eight is faster than seven. I think,

403
00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:41,240
Speaker 1: what was it, Safari was like thirty six times faster

404
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 1: than Internet Explore seven. Yeah, it's only like eight times

405
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:50,359
Speaker 1: faster than Internet Explorer eight, so it's it's improved. But yeah, um,

406
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,600
Speaker 1: actually I think and and Andrew sent this for a

407
00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:55,480
Speaker 1: while ago. I think I should point out that Google

408
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:57,639
Speaker 1: Chrome doesn't have a new beta out that's even faster

409
00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:04,199
Speaker 1: and bite me, Safari. Disagree with you, Andrew. But they

410
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:08,520
Speaker 1: had a contest not too long ago which they let crackers,

411
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,240
Speaker 1: won't their white hat hackers take a shot at the

412
00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:16,199
Speaker 1: different Uh stop laughing at me the joke alright, go

413
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,440
Speaker 1: ahead anyway, they let some some hackers take a shot

414
00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:21,960
Speaker 1: at the security on the different browsers, and the one

415
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,560
Speaker 1: that withstood the attack the longest was not Firefox. It

416
00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:29,080
Speaker 1: was Chrome. Yeah. Chrome, actually did did they ever break it?

417
00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:31,600
Speaker 1: I didn't see a final I think they finally just

418
00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:33,359
Speaker 1: gave up at the end of the first day. That

419
00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:38,560
Speaker 1: was the only one that they hadn't actually managed to crack. Um, however,

420
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,440
Speaker 1: you don't have all the extensions and flexibility of fires true?

421
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,480
Speaker 1: Is that true? I I rely on Firefox primarily, and

422
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 1: then I use Chrome is my backup browser, and then

423
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,280
Speaker 1: I use Internet Explorer for whenever I have to access anything.

424
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:52,119
Speaker 1: Uh internally, I still have a soft spot in my

425
00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:55,560
Speaker 1: heart for opera, do you yeah? And Safari is pretty

426
00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 1: you know, there's some good things about all of them.

427
00:23:58,040 --> 00:23:59,959
Speaker 1: I'm more of a musical fan than an opera fan,

428
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna stop with that. Okay, So I

429
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:06,720
Speaker 1: guess that wratches things up. If you have any questions, comments,

430
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,360
Speaker 1: or suggestions, you can write us at tech stuff at

431
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,520
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. And remember we have blogs up.

432
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:14,920
Speaker 1: You can find those at how stuff works dot com,

433
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: as well as articles about all the subjects we've been

434
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:19,679
Speaker 1: talking about so far. And we hope to taught you

435
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,679
Speaker 1: again really soon for more on this and thousands of

436
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:30,960
Speaker 1: other topics. Is it how stuff works dot Com brought

437
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,200
Speaker 1: to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,

438
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:34,840
Speaker 1: are you